Singapore’s hard fall earlier in the year has obviously got the Singapore cabinet and Law Minister K. Shanmugam thinking,? if this morning’s report in Bloomberg
is anything to go by…
Bloomberg reports:
Singapore, which allowed six foreign law firms to practice local corporate law in December, will award more licenses as soon as next year if that would help the economy, Law Minister K. Shanmugam said.
?The direction has been set and we don?t intend to turn back,? he said in an interview. The government will review the progress of its liberalization program in the first six months of 2010 and could award more licenses then if the market can ?digest them,? he said.
Clifford Chance LLP and the five other new licensees have increased the lawyers they have in Singapore by 20 percent from last year, Shanmugam said. With a collapse in corporate finance work, U.S. and U.K. firms have been expanding their arbitration and India practices in Singapore. The Southeast Asian city state hopes more lawyers will strengthen its financial sector.
?If you look at Hong Kong, New York, London, it?s no coincidence that they?re all leading financial industry centers,? Shanmugam, 50, said. ?Legal services really grew to support the financial services industry.?
London-based firms have expanded in Singapore even as they?ve cut jobs at home, with Clifford Chance setting up a dispute resolution practice and raising the number of lawyers in its Singapore office to 50 from 38. Allen & Overy LLP hired all 10 lawyers from Singapore firm Venture Law LLC, bringing its total to 44.
See the full report at?? http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601102&sid=aS6aOikDhoJg
